Evans
by HKGleclercq
Summary: So this is my first fanfiction ever. This is the story of Lily Evans' final year at Hogwarts: her life, her problems, and...most of all - her love life! James Potter x Lily Evans. Enjoy, rate and review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys. So this is my first fanfiction ever so please don't be too mean **

**I know that the first chapter is probably a boer but bear with me because there is something that happens in the first chapter that is necessary to the plot. **

**Anyways, I do hope you enjoy, rate and review! (constructive criticism please :D ) **

**Chapter 1: **

Lily Evans was sitting on her bed; a heavy book entitled "Hogwarts A History" in her laps. Clearly she had already read this book several times, for she could be heard saying to herself "no this chapter was boring, I don't want read it" and would skip several pages before plunging herself bag into deep lecture. Most people would find it quite peculiar that a 17-year-old girl would spend the last day of the summer holidays in their rooms, reading.

It was a fine day outside, and the rays of sunlight flooded through an open window into her room, and yet she rarely took a glance outside and if she were to, there wouldn't be a single trace of longing in her eyes, a sign that she had stayed inside of her own free will.

Lily Evan's bedroom was of sky-blue walls and seemed particularly empty and emotionless for a room. There weren't any posters or pictures representing her and her friends; just a white wooden desk, a bookshelf overcrowded by books, and a mahogany wooden bed on which blue ribbons were painted. The décor seemed quite childish for teenager and it was obvious she hadn't inhabited in this room for a long time from its' lack of personality.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Lily, open this door. Please? You've been in there since yesterday afternoon, you have got to eat?" said a man's voice. Lily looked up to the door but remained stubbornly silent. She turned back to her book and stared at it for several minutes, her eyes blank, clearly not taking in a word of what she was reading. Finally, with a sigh, she slammed the book and tossed into a brown trunk, which lay open beside her bed.

Another voice, this time a woman's said calmly: Lily, you aren't being reasonable. This is your last day here with us and I've prepared a nice dinner! I understand that you're upset but darling, Petunia has already apologized several times to you. Please! Let us at least enjoy tonight!" she stopped than waited a few more seconds before adding "Lily, are you listening?".

Lily was unsure whether she should remain silent till the next morning to prove her point or enjoy one last dinner with her parents before school started. Obviously she was right. How could it possibly be her fault that they had a car accident yesterday, she wasn't even the one driving! All she had done was cast a shield charm to protect her family from the blow but immediately her exasperating sister had jumped to conclusions and accused her and to make it worse, she had received several minutes later a warning from the ministry for having used magic outside out school. Of course, her parents had then decided that the car accident was her fault and she had to show them the letter to finally convince them of her innocence. But what made Lily so upset, was the fact that her parents would accuse her of such a thing. Petunia was practically drowning in her joy as Lily received the letter as she thought that the letter had been sent to expel her.

Petunia had always hated Lily for going to Hogwarts; she thought the school was for freaks and had conveniently forgotten that 7 years ago, she was jealous of her sister for being accepted instead of her. Every summer holiday, Petunia would try to, as she calls it, "de-freakise" Lily and would forbid her to even utter the word magic. She would actually act as a sister for the rest of the holidays but at the approach of Lily's return, would immediately switch back to her old, complaining self. This behavior had always greatly irritated Lily who found her sister immature. So after Petunia's accusation yesterday, Lily decided to lock herself in her bedroom, and hadn't eaten or talked to anyone. She was convinced that this was a necessary action to prove her point but at this point she didn't think she could bear to sadden her parents by refusing to eat one last time with them.

Finally, she sighed and replied:" If I come down, will I have 2 pieces chocolate cake?" The woman laughed before replying, "Anything you want." Giving up her pride, Lily stood up, unlocked the door and climbed down the stairs. In the dining room, she found her parents and Petunia already seated. Her mum and dad were both smiling, relieved that Lily wasn't angry anymore but Petunia ignored determinedly Lily and instead seemed to be focusing on a brown stain on the wall.

Lily sat down and served herself after her parents. The dinner went quite well, to Lily's liking. Petunia managed to forget her rage and talked to Lily in a perfectly normal tone. It was as if Petunia pushed the fact that Lily was going back to Hogwarts out of her mind for the rest of the dinner, something very unlike Petunia.

Lily went to bed that night peaceful and full from the delicious food that her mother and prepared, still savoring each and every flavor in her mouth.

In her room, Petunia laid in her bed her eyes wide open, thinking. Suddenly, after several minutes, she sat erect on her bed, a smile shining across her thin face. She knew what she had to do…

**A/N: Well I hope that wasn't to bad (or boring). And again, rate and review :D**


	2. Chapter 2

"Lily… Lily wake up!" a voice echoed

- mmhh, the red-headed girl mumbled, turning over in her bed

- Lily, For heavens sake you're going to miss the train!" the voice exclaimed, much clearer now before pulling the covers off Lily.

These words seemed to have an important impact on her for she suddenly decided to wake up and in her hurry to get out of bed, ended up by falling rather humorously on her face. Lily's mother, Hannah, laughed as she watched her disgruntled daughter try to stand up then stumble, still half asleep. Lily glared at her, something which caused Hannah to laugh even harder much to Lily's dismay. Finally, when she managed to make three steps without falling, her mother left her room after laying a set of freshly ironed robes.

Lily sighed of relief at her departure, happy that she would be able to prepare her things without hearing her mother continuously chuckle behind her back. She liked the fact that she had a cheerful mother, but her optimism could frankly be very annoying sometimes. She packed in haste as she realized that the train was leaving in 45 minutes and it took them 30 minutes to get to King Cross. Once she managed to shut Jasper, her owl, in his cage she went to Petunia's room to get her wand.

Indeed, Petunia, frightened as she was of magic, insisted on locking Lily's wand every holiday Lily spent with her family, safely in her room. Lily knew that if she refused, Petunia would refuse to speak to her and would glare at her for the rest of her stay so she had simply given in and let Petunia behave as she wished. This "tradition" had been respected for 7 years now and Lily was getting quite tired of her older sister but did not complain. Sighing, Lily knocked on the door of Petunia's room. Receiving no reply, Lily called Petnia's name several times before her mother told her from the dining that Petunia had gone out to buy a few things.

Sighing Lily made a mental note to herself to get the wand before leaving and went down to eat.

They ate hurriedly, not saying much to each other, all to worried about the fact that they barely had 35 minutes before the train left. Once finished, John, lily's dad, brought Lily's luggage down and somehow managed to fit her trunk, a very big bag and an owl cage in the car. While he was doing so, Lily headed over to her sister's room and once again knocked on her door, hoping that she was home by then. Luckily, Petunia had finished her errands quite quickly and had returned while Lily and her parents were eating.

"Tuney? I'm sorry if I'm waking you but I need to get my wand." Lily tried to say this in her calmest voice and ended up sounding as though she were sorry. Surprisingly, Petunia opened immediately the door and handed Lily her wand smiling. Usually, Lily would have to beg her sister for her wand for several minutes and sometimes her parents would even have to intervene to get Petunia to open her door.

"Here you go, she said cheerfully forcing the wand into Lily's hand. The wand felt strange, and slightly different in Lily's hand but she assumed that this was because she hadn't held it for so long. She stared at her sister for a while, unable to believe that she was taking her departure so well before realizing that this was probably a trick. She looked at Petunia suspiciously, who had watched Lily change her facial expression and realized what Lily was thinking.

" Oh come on. I'm over it okay? This isn't a trick, I promise! She said sounding slightly annoyed that I would suspect her of such a thing.

- Really? This was almost to good to be true. Had Petunia finally gotten over the fact that Lily was a witch and not a freak?

- Well, no I haven't really gotten over it, but lets say that I accept the fact that my sister is witch because I know that I really can't do anything about it. She sounded serious and this statement from her meant a lot to Lily.

- I'll miss you, the red-headed girl added shyly

- Don't worry, we'll see each other sooner than you think

, her sister replied mysteriously before heading back to her room.

Lily beamed to herself on the ride to King Cross. She really hadn't expected her sister's reaction but remained still quite unsure of what Petunia had meant when she said that they'd see each other sooner than Lily thought.

Luckily, there wasn't any traffic that morning, which was quite surprising for a Sunday. Lily arrived at King Cross with barely 5 minutes to spare before the train left. She ran through the wall separating platform nine from platform ten without fear and practically threw her luggage onto the train. She swiftly kissed her parents goodbye before climbing on he train about to leave.

Once on the train, Lily searched for her two best friends Marlene Mckinnon and Alice Franklin. Lily had met Marlene and Alice on her first day at Hogwarts. Both of them already knew each other as kids and were sitting together in a compartment. Lily was all alone and proposed her to join them. Lily had immediately befriended the two girls: Marlene was very funny and witty, Alice was fierce and loyal, both had qualities that Lily valued greatly.

Finally, Lily recognized Marlene's sleek blond hair, and Alice's shortly cropped brown hair in a compartment with two other girls of their year from Ravenclaw.

"Lily! Alice shouted as she rushed to hug her, how are you?" Lily knew that Alice was actually asking her how Petunia was, knowing how difficult she could be.

" Oh , I guess I'm fine, I shrugged, better than last time. Her guys! I said to the 3 other girls in our compartment. Marlene smiled at me whilst the two other girls greeted me back.

- Lily, you're headgirl right? Marlene asked me with a sly smile

- Er.. yeah..wait, Why are you asking me this? I already told you that over summer in a letter! Lily said suddenly suspicious of Marlene's intentions

- Oh well, I was just wondering. She said in a conversational voice before adding, because Potter is Headboy. She looked at me very seriously but her gleaming hazelnut eyes suggested she was fighting hard not to laugh.

Lily stood there, with a blank look on her face, seemingly unable to understand what Marlene had just told her.

" What? She said regaining control of herself, sure that she had heard wrong.

- I said, Potter is headboy, Marlene repeated articulating as if she were talking to a five year old.

- You're kidding me right? Of course you're joking, I said more to myself than to her. The four other girls in the compartment looked at me apologetically before shaking their heads. Lily simply refused to believe what Marlene had told her. "Potter" and "headboy" were just two words that should never be employed together in a sentence.

- Apparently, he matured over summer, said one of the Ravenclaw girls with blond hair. She smirked. "Potter will never be mature, he was is and will always be a conceited git" she thought to herself. Guessing what Lily was thinking, Alice said with a smirk:

" You know Lily, he's not that bad. I think that you simply refuse to get to know him.." Her voice trailed off as she caught the disbelieving look Lily shot her.

Lily Evans had always hated James Potter. It was common knowledge that if you left both of them in a room alone, you could be sure that they would be yelling at each other after barely 5 minutes. She couldn't stand the way he would grin, his arrogant smirk, his messy black, the fact that he could get good grades without even studying… In her opinion, James Potter was a conceited, arrogant, immature idiot who lived to make her life miserable.

But the thing that made Lily loathe him, hate every single bit of him was that James had always, for a reason which remained unclear to the whole school, Liked (with a capital L) Lily. Of course, Lily was sure that he only asked her out everyday to annoy her; she could not see any other reason for his apparent interest in her as first of all, she wasn't very popular (being a prefect and an insufferable know-it-all) second of all, she didn't look anything like the girls that James usually dated (she actually had a brain) and third and probably most important of all, she didn't share his pathetic obsession for Quidditch.

It was known that James usually dated Quidditch players, and as Lily couldn't even mount a broom, she had convinced herself that it was impossible that James could possibly fancy her.

As a matter of fact, she was a 100% sure that he hated her as much as she hated him from the number of pranks he had pulled on her. He had died her hair all the colors possible, messed up the potions she did class, stopped her from studying, embarrassed her in public, made fun of her with his stupid group of friends called " The marauders". Seriously! What kind of guy creates a group then calls it something like "The Marauders". A voice that Lily recognized all to well snapped her out of her houghts:

" Er.. Lily, I was looking for you. You know that the headboy and headgirl are supposed to have a meeting together right?" Weirdly, Potter said this more as if he genuinely thought that Lily didn't know about the meeting. This seemed to annoy her even more. Obviously she knew, did Potter suddenly think himself more responsible than she was?

She scowled at him before replying sarcastically:

" You're Serious?

- woaa, no need to get excited. Just calm down! He said raising both his hands.

- Well, what are you waiting for? She snapped, deeply annoyed by his response. Lets go! She added gesturing him out of the compartment.

They made their way together without saying a word to each other. Lily would have probably been disturbed by the awkward silence if she weren't deeply lost in thought. He had grown several inches, and no longer looked like a long, skinny stick. She laughed to herself as she picture him as a stick.

- What, Potter said in a curious voice

- Oh nothing. " She replied hastily.

Several people were staring at them as they made their way to their compartment together. The students were surprised to see that they weren't yelling at each other. Lily was too. "Oh well, she thought, as long as he's not annoying me." But she still remained perturbed by his lack of grinning and pick up lines. Had Potter really matured over the summer?

- Will you stopped staring at me? He suddenly snapped

- I wasn't staring, Lily replied with a snarl, but she realized afterwards that she actually was staring at him, something that was quite disturbing from her, After all, Lily Evans had always hated James Potter.

Finally, they reached the Heaboy/Headgirl department. This compartment was slightly nicer than the others, they had replaced the cotton curtains to velvet ones, and put comfortable cushions on the seats. Both of them sat down and Lily immediately started going over Headboy duties and planning their rounds, trying to ignore the fact that she was discussing this with none other than Potter. She had decided that It would be wiser to not yell at the headboy every few minutes or so, even if she was dying to do so, foy it could interfere with their work. After all, they needed to cooperate. Of course, that didn't stop her from silently hating his guts, but nevertheless, she kept it to herself.

Once she had finished talking, she flipped her long, red hair back to keep it from obstructing her view, and waited for him start talking.

James Potter listened calmly to her as she babbled on about the headboy and headgirl duties. He was deeply confused: a few months ago, the mere sight of him would have sent her yelling every curses she knew at him from the top of her lungs and tried to get him and the Marauders into detention whenever she could. And yet, there she was before him, talking to him as if he were not Potter, the guy she loathed, but any other person, and he had even caught her staring at him. Something was definitely wrong.

Annoying Lily Evans was probably one of his favorite pass-times. Of course, he had grown out of continuously pranking her in 5th year and had instead resorted to asking her to go out with him daily. Much to his pleasure, this tactic irritated her even more than simple pranks. That was the year that Lily Evans changed into a goal for him, a game. Okay, maybe slightly more than that: he had to admit that he had feelings for her, of course not Love, but he knew that he fancied her. A lot. Of course, it hadn't stopped him from dating a few girls.

But he had finally decided this summer that it was quite immature to treat a girl like a quest and that the girl probably didn't deserve it, even if the girl was Lily Evans. He had to admit that the only reason he was interested in her was because he din't understand her. But during the summer holidays, after log hours of reflexion, he had managed to pin down what kind of girl she was: an arrogant girl who thought everyone other than herself was vermin. James Potter was finally over Lily Evans. Or so he thought.

James had expected Lily to act as the same, insufferable know-it-all, who would think she was above everyone else as usual. But now, to his great surprise and dismay, she acted perfectly normally, alright she wasn't all of a sudden in love with him, but she had stayed calm. And much as he hated to admit it, James Potter still didn't understand Lily Evans.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Lily had barely noticed that the jet black-haired boy in front of her wasn't taking in a word of what she was saying. She was much to consumed in her speech to notice he had gone glassy- eyed. Finally, she tossed her auburn hair backwards and waited for him to start to speak. Much to her displeasure, no such thing happened. As a matter of fact, James Potter was ever so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed she had stopped talking. Annoyed, she snapped her fingers several times in front of his eyes to bring him back to reality.

"Hello? Did you hear anything I just said?

- Err.. right. Yeah of course I did.

- Really? So What Did I say? , she asked already knowing his answer

- Um, you know. Head duties and rounds… stuff." His voiced trailed as he saw Lily glare at him. She smirked when his voice had reached such a low volume that it was inaudible.

She didn't understand how it was possible that a wise man like Dumbledore would even consider making Potter Headboy. She never liked questioning Dumbledore, but this time, Lily was keen to believe there had been a mix up.

Seeing her smirk, James snarled at her and said angrily:

" Well I'm sorry that I have more interesting things to do than listen to you babble on for ages. I mean, do you ever shut up? " He had seen that superior look on Lily's face again and this time, on the contrary to the past years, it annoyed him more than anything. Who does she think she is? He thought haughtily.

Lily was much to startled to give him a direct comeback. Potter usually came up with some sort of pick up line to annoy her, but it seemed that he now stopped trying to flirt with her but instead was much more susceptible. She wasn't sure she preferred the new Potter; She was willing to make efforts with the Old Potter, ignoring his unintelligent remarks (although they made her laugh interiorly sometimes) but didn't quite know how to handle this new behavior. Indeed, they had yelled quite a lot at each other for the past seven years but if he began getting upset for every little comment she said, it would make it impossible for them to share the same dormitory let alone do rounds together.

Realizing he had just insulted her and she had stayed silent, she said coolly:

"Fine then. I'm sure you have more interesting things to do than to have a stupid meeting with me. You are free to leave." Lily said, trying to keep her face as impassable as possible. The boy didn't move.

It seemed to hit James that she had actually had a reason to be annoyed at him this time and he regretted having told her to shut up. Maybe he should say he was sorry. He was about to apologize when she told him to leave. Not knowing what to do, he didn't budge.

He looked at Lily and was surprised to see that she seemed quite hurt. There weren't tears streaming down her cheeks, she didn't have a watery gaze, but the way she looked at him was different. Her features weren't giving away any emotion what so ever but she looked at him as if she didn't know him. Her eyes weren't filled with intense hatred when she looked at him as they usually were. As a matter of fact, James had absolutely no idea whether she was hurt or shocked about what he had said, or whether she actually didn't care at all.

Lily was hurt. A little part of her hoped Potter would apologize after she told him to leave, say that he didn't mean it, but instead he just stood there staring blankly at her. People had always said she couldn't stop talking about uninteresting subjects but they usually said it as a joke. No one had ever told her to "just shut up" like he had. Of course, she wasn't heartbroken or devastated, but she hadn't expected what he had said. And she didn't like that at all. But then again, what did she really expect? Lily thought. After all, He is Potter. She pronounced his name in her head with disgust, spit it out as if it were vermin.

The scene had a feeling of deja-vu, and brought back the memory of the day Snape had called her a mudblood. Lily knew that she had forgiven Snape, she wasn't really angry at him anymore for what he had said two years ago. But she knew that Snape had changed. She knew that he now mixed with the death-eater type. And if she decided to openly tell him she forgave him, she wasn't even sure that he'd want to be friends with her anymore; he was much to infatuated with the dark arts.

"I was right when I said Potter was no better than Snape" she thought vehemently.

The seconds went by in silence as both teenagers kept quiet, plunged in their thoughts. Noticing how awkward the situation was getting, Lily came to her senses and marched out of the room with dignity, leaving Potter dumfounded. He didn't understand how it had started as a head's meeting and finished as an argument. James sighed to himself: they hadn't even arrived at school yet and he was already arguing with Evans.

James Potter stood alone in the compartment for a few minutes before heading back to where his friends were sitting. He had promised himself to apologize for having gotten angry with Lily at the feast that night. He spotted his friends in a nearby compartment and headed towards them. 3 Boys were sitting in the compartment: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin were James' best friends, together they formed the Marauders, the school most famous pranksters.

Sirius was quite good-looking and had handsome features. He was known for his dark hair that fell casually in eyes. Remus was sitting opposite of him, buried in a schoolbook, a prefect badge pinned to his robes. Sitting next to Remus was Peter, a short mousy-haired boy who was busy eating sweets.

When the three of them noticed James entering the compartment they smiled at him and Remus asked in an innocent voice:

" So.. who's headgril?

- Who do you think? replied Sirius with a grin on his face, Alright Prongs? I hope she didn't yell at you too much. he said to James.

- Shut up Padfoot. James replied haughtily

- Seriously mate, you've liked her sine the 2nd grade. Its time you get over her. She isn't even that pretty, she's really bossy and she hates you. he stood up and pointed at his friend saying, You are James Potter. You could have almost any girl you want. And you cou-

- Sirius? Remus cut him off

- Yes?

- You're not helping.

- Fine, I'll shut up"

James watched his two friends and couldn't help but grin. He sat down, and started eating one of Peter's chocolate frogs.

Lily Evans made her way back to her compartment. She was unable to hide her anger and her friends refrained from making any comments or asking her how the meeting had gone. Marlene, trying to start a conversation which wouldn't enclude criticizing Potter said:

"Soo..

- So what? Lily snapped.

- Look, Lily. I get that your mad at Potter but it's no use to take it out on us. Alice replied sternly.

- I'm sorry, you're right," Lily sighed, it's just that Potter has a way of getting to me and it deeply annoys me.

She added catching her friends looking at each other, a gleam of interest " Oh cut it off will you? I thought we had already agreed since 3rd grade that I Don't Like Potter!

- We didn't say anything." Marlene replied maliciously.

Lily sighed. She had tried and failed miserably to convince her friends that her hatred for Potter was and was only hatred. They had some twisted idea that she despised him because she actually loved him. How ridiculous is that? The red-haired girl laughed interiorly at that thought. Her? Like Potter? Never.

But an unsettling thought made her doubt this statement: Why was she hurt when Potter had said that she never could shut up?

The journey on the train went by without any event and soon, students were streaming out of their compartments and heading towards the horseless carriages. Lily had found out in 5th year that the carriages were in fact pulled by thestrals when Alice had declared that she saw horses pulling the carriages. Alice's mother had been murdered that summer by death eaters, which explained how she could see them.

The three girls parted with the two other Ravenclaws and made their way to an empty carriage. As they sat, a curly brown-haired boy came in and sat down next to Alice. His name was Frank Longbottom. Alice and him had started dating at the very end of 6th year.

" Frank" she squealed. It was very much unlike Alice to squeal or giggle, or gossip or do anything that may be classified as a "silly girl's thing" as she would call it. But when she was around Frank, Alice conveniently forgot how much she would normally despise girls who acted in a similar manner.

" Hey Alice." Frank grinned before kissing her gently. Alice blushed as she noticed our amuse faces.

Although Lily may not admit it to herself, she had always felt a slight tinge of jealousy when she saw her friend with Frank. Not of course because she had feelings for him, but she was envious of their relationship; to her, Franks and Alice had the perfect relationship: they were sweet, gentle and honest towards each other but also they didn't always stick together as other couples would.

A voice pulled her out of her reflections:

" So Lily, I heard that James is now headboy. How'd that go for you?" he grinned as Lily grimaced.

- Please, don't ruin my mood by talking to me about Potter. She said scornfully, but with a smile on her face

- Suit yourself;" he said before changing the subject to the latest news on Voldemort.

- It's really horrible! The whole family! Dead. Marlene whispered as though she was afraid someone might hear her, I heard that Jones' Parents are pulling him out of Hogwarts!

- What? But Hogwarts is the safest place right now! Lily exclaimed

- We know Lils. I don't get it either. My parents always say that they'd be crazy to pull me out of Hogwarts in times like these, Marlene replied.

- Bloody Death Eaters, Alice muttered angrily. Someday, they are going to deeply regret everything they've ever one, she added dangerously.

Alice had gotten over the sadness from her mother's death but she had promised herself that when she left Hogwarts, Alice would do anything in her power to bring Voldemort and his Death Eaters down. Lily didn't doubt what she said for a second for she knew how brave and loyal Alice was. As a matter of fact, Lily herself was considering being an Auror and if she were to be one, she would also be fighting against Voldemort. But it was a highly dangerous job, with Aurors being murdered every week, and not many people aspired to fight the most dangerous wizards of our time for a living these days.

The conversation changed slightly to a lighter subject.

- So Frank, what do you want to do after Hogwarts? Marlene asked, tossing her blond hair backwards.

- Probably Auror. My dad always said it was the best job and I've got the grades required.

- Auror? Yeah I've considered it. But… well, I must admit. Although I'm supposed to be brave, you know being in Gryffindor and everything, I am quite frightened. My cousin was an Auror. He was murdered last month; my Aunt and Uncle were devastated. Marlene replied in a small shaky voice.

- I know this won't help, but I think that everyone's afraid because, well, almost everyone's lost somebody from their family. Lily said putting a hand on Marlene's shoulder. She sometimes considered herself lucky for having a muggle family because the chances that they would one day be murdered by death-eaters was quite small.

- I lost my mum, Alice stated firmly, refusing to sound weak or sad

- I lost my Uncle, Frank declared.

Everyone stared at him surprised. They hadn't known he had lost someone.

Catching their stunned looks he added with a small smile:

" He died in death Eater attack on a Muggles. He wasn't an Auror, just a Healer. He had been sent urgently to the scene of the attack to restore to health a few Muggles who had been injured but a death-eater saw him and killed him."

The three girls looked at him apologetically. It was always hard to hear someone talk about the death of somebody they knew well. Lily had gone through a very painful conversation when Alice announced her mother's death to her. Her friend had been crying all the time, hiding in broom cupboards and washrooms to shed tears. Her behavior had deeply saddened Lily both because her best friend was in a state of utter despair but also because there was absolutely nothing she could about it and no matter how hard she tried she would never be able to fully understand her pain and relate to Alice.

Finally, the carriages came to a Halt and the four of them made their way to the castle. While walking, Lily noticed how conversations generally ended up about Voldemort. But it was to be expected as everyone in Hogwarts was terrified about what was happening on the outside (A/N: outside, meaning not in Hogwarts haha :D).

But at the sight of Hogwarts, All unsettling thoughts left Lily's mind, replaced by the warmth of being Home. Indeed, Hogwarts had been her home ever since the 1st year, when Petunia had called her a freak and Lily had started really feeling as an outcast even in the place she had lived in for the eleven previous years.

Frank left them to join his friends, and the three girls made their way to the Hall alone. On her way, she bumped into Potter and his friends and to stunned and embarassed to formulate a proper sentence, Lily spluttered:

" Oh.. er Potter. Right. Um Sorry… I

- Alright Evans? he cut her off with a grin

- um.. Yeah fine. Lily blushed.

- Cool. Oh I've been meaning to apologize.

- Apologize? She said in a distracted voice. Althought she hated to admit it Potter was actually quite good looking- LILY! Stop. She regained control of herself and said in a firm voice, without blushing:

- Right, you're talking about the row we had in the compartment?

- Yeah I'm-

Lily was furious both at herself and him for having made her stammer and she was determined to unsettle him in any way possible.

- Oh it's fine. Just forget about it. After all, we're friends right? She smiled ravishingly, knowing what effect her smile had on Potter. To her satisfaction, he plan had worked perfectly. Potter was now out of words and stood blankly in front of her. Lily should have felt bad for playing with him in that way but somehow she actually appreciated seeing him blush for her. It was fulfilling to see the conceited prat stunned for once.

- Er right.. yeah we- we are f-friends. He stuttered

- Cool ! she said with a mysterious smile before pecking him on the cheek and walking off with her shocked friends.

-Um... Lily, Are we missing out on something? Alice questioned her with a fake worried look on her face

- Yeah because if I didn't know better, than I would definitely say that you were flirting with James Potter, Marlene said amused

- Don't be daft. I wasn't flirting. I was just playing around with him.

- What happened to Lily Evans? Alice suddenly yelled jokingly at her friend

- Shhh… No need to yell. I'm just saying that I acted that way on purpose to unsettle Potter. She paused as they arrived in front of the great wooden doors leading to the great Hall before adding:

" And who nows? Maybe Potter and I will be friends this year? She grinned as she saw her friends gape at her. Because she couldn't lie to herself although she wanted to; She had enjoyed kissing him on the cheek.

James Potter was walking towards the Great Hall with the Marauders when he bumped into Lily Evans. To his amusement, Lily seemed unable to find the right words and was blushing furiously. He was about to apologize when she told him something that had startled him so much that he stood in front of her silently, much to surprised to say anything: Friends?

Friends with Lily Evans?

He had hoped for this for a long time now and he was quite suspicious to why she suddenly decided to like him all of a sudden. Maybe she had finally matured over the summer, he conceided.

But just as he thought things couldn't get anymore weird, Lily Evans kissed him.

Well not exactly.

She had kissed him on the cheek but it was still a kiss! With Lily Evans! The girl who had ensured that she would never enter in any type of physical contact with James.

Then she left with her friend, leaving James dumbfounded in the corridor.

- Looks like Evans fancies you, Prongs! Sirius laughed

- Finally! Prongs joked back

-Yeah… we know Evans, I wouldn't be so sure of her suddenly liking you. It seems quite suspi-

- Oh don't ruin his joy? I've had enough of him stealing my chocolate every time Lily cursed at him! Peter cut him off with a slight smile on his face.

Ignoring his friends comments, James grinned:

" I have a feeling this year is gonna be a good one."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry, I know I haven't updated in at least a month but my computer broke down. Anyways, this is Chapter 4. **

**Chapter 4:**

"James! James wake up!" Remus bellowed banging on the headboy's dormitory door

The boy stirred in his sleep. Determined to not wake up, he pulled the covers over his jet-black hair to block out the noise caused by his friends.

Remus cast the Alohamora spell and both he and Sirius came rushing in the room.

Sirius walked over to his friend's bed and conjured a glass of water. With a sigh, he poured the clear liquid on James who yelled as he felt the cold water splash on his face.

" Padfoot? Bloody Hell Mate!

- Look Prongs, I normally wouldn't be waking you up, and that's because I would probably also be asleep but right now you really need to get up. Class started about 30 minutes ago. He added checking his watch.

Beside him, Moony was picking up books scattered all over the floor and shoving them in Prongs' already full, bag.

- Whaat? The teenager yelled and jumped out of his bed. Still half asleep, he started putting on his robes when he realized he was actually trying to put his pants on his head. Cursing, he finally managed to put on his uniform and slung his bag over his shoulder.

" Where's Peter? He asked as they scurried down the spiral staircase

- He already went down about an hour ago. Moony replied as they climbed through the portrait hole.

- And he didn't think of waking us up? Padfoot asked irritably

- Obviously not."

The three of them ran through the corridors but stopped abruptly as they realized that they had absolutely no clue of where they had class since their timetables were distributed during breakfast and they had missed it.

" Shit! What do we do now? James cursed

- Well… I say we look into every classroom.

- But that'll take hours! Sirius whined

- Come on, let's just start by the classes on this floor then."

They started peering into classes, trying to find fellow classmates in one of them when they were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Remus looked up to see who was coming and sighed of relief when he saw a fiery red-head walking towards them, looking cross.

" You know how late you are? You already lost Gryffindor 10 points on the first day! Professor Flitwick was worried something had happened to you and sent me to look for the three of you! Why are you so Late? And you! She said pointing her finger at James You're headboy! I hope you aren't planning on being late every morning!

James was slightly embarrassed of having already failed acting as a role model, being heaboy, and tried to give Lily an innocent look which usually worked on other girls, but certainly not on Lily Evans. He noticed her eyes were red with anger.

Wait - no that didn't make any sense. How could her eyes be red of anger? James wasn't dreaming, they were certainly red and slightly puffy. This could only mean one absurd and very disconcerting thing: had Lily Evans, probably the toughest (yet sweet) and imperturbable girl James had ever met, been crying?

The thought lingered in James' mind for about a second, before he realized that was most certainly the most ridiculous thing he'd ever thought of:

_Lily Evans, crying? Give me a break. I wouldn't be surprised if her eyes really were red from anger._

Lily Evans awoke that morning at 7:00, to the early rays of sunlight flooding through the corners of her curtains. It was quite nice to have a whole room for oneself. Her room was quite like her old, except for the fact that it was much smaller, but the decorations remained the same and were of the same red and gold.

As always, she took a long soothing shower. She took her time to prepare herself, making sure that she had all the books she needed in her bag before making her way down to the Gryffindor common room. It was, by then, only 7:45 and class started in more than hour. Knowing that Alice and Marlene were still sleeping, Lily decided to stay in the common room until they woke up as she didn't want to eat alone.

She took out one of her school books, and started reading it with a sigh.

People had always accused Lily of being a bore, as she would always read her textbooks before class. Little did they know that this activity bore Lily, but she endured it for she knew that if she wanted to maintain her good grades and the teachers' positive attitude towards her, she had to know beforehand what they were going to study this year.

Unlike Potter, she thought bitterly.

Indeed, Potter had always been in the top students of the class but seemed to never study. He was always playing pranks or practicing Quidditch and Lily was quite jealous of the fact that he could maintain such grades with so little effort. Of course, she was by far better than him, but her outstanding results came with a lot of effort put in.

She had finished reading the first chapter of her textbook on Goblin rights when a short, brown-haired girl walked through the portrait hole.

"- Lily! I didn't see you on the train!

- Mary! I couldn't find you in any compartment. Where were you? Lily said as she stood up to hug her friend.

Mary Macdonald was one of Lily's close friends. They had gotten close in the 5th year when Mary and Lily both became prefects and did their prefect duties together. Also Mary had comforted her when the incident with Snape took place.

Mary Macdonald had shoulder-length thin brown hair which she never tied except when she was playing Quidditch, deep blue-grey eyes and a few freckles on her nose. She wasn't as close to Lily as Alice and Marlene were for she, being pretty and smart, was quite popular both amongst boys and girls and had her own group of friends.

_She dated James Potter last year. _

The thought crossed Lily's mind before she could stop herself. It was getting quite ridiculous; Just because Potter was, and she had to admit it, very handsome, toned and- STOP.

Just because Potter was okay-looking and wasn't exactly her archenemy anymore didn't mean that she should think about him as much as she did. It was too unhealthy and disturbing for her.

So, you want to go grab some breakfast? Mary asked, snapping Lily out of her thoughts

- Er… yeah sure. she replied as she looked at her watch. It was 8:15, Marlene and Alice won't be awake until 8:30 and Lily was starving.

The two of them headed towards the Great Hall and sat on on the far right of the long wooden table. The great Hall was packed with students chattering about their first day of school and they barely found space for them to sit. As Mary and Lily began eating, a number of owls swooped into the hall and deposited packages on the plates of a few students. The red-head spotted her owl flying towards her, carrying what was most probably the Daily Prophet.

- Anyone we know dead? Mary asked cynically.

- Actually… yes! Oh no! Mary look it's horrible!

- Whaaat? She chocked on her food. Mary always asked the same question every morning, but she always knew the answer to be "no" unlike this time.

- Yes. Professor Hayes, our defense against the dark-arts teach-

- Yes yes, I know who he is! But how… when did he die?

- Last night. According to the article, he was discovered dead this morning in his home with the Dark Mark floating above. Lily replied gravely.

Around them, the atmosphere in the Great Hall seemed to get heavier as more and more horrified whispers were heard, and students read out the article to their surrounding friends.

- He was muggle-borne, Lily said replying to Mary's silent question. Guess this means we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. Again.

Indeed she was right, for a few seconds later Dumbledore stood up, asked for silence before he began speaking.

"As you all may or may not know, Professor Hayes, your defense against the Dart Arts teacher. He paused an instance, letting his gaze wander across the room, has been murdered last night.

Their was an uproar, the students who hadn't heard the news cried and gasped of horror and those who were already aware of the murder passed the Daily Prophet around or engaged themselves in grave conversations about Death Eaters. Lily was dumbstruck: somehow reading it in the Daily Prophet hadn't seemed real until Dumbledore announced it. Professor Mcgonagall clapped her hands loudly to bring back the students to order.

The headmaster thanked her and began speaking again.

" As we haven't had the time to find a replacement, you will have no class during your Defense Against the Dark Arts periods. Professor Mcgonagall will now distribute your timetables. " He sat down, then started a conversation with Professor Grubby-Plank, who was sitting beside him. Her eyes were slightly swollen; it was obvious she had cried at hearing the news of Hayes' death.

At this announcement, there were no cries of joy for the new free periods. Instead, the students wore horrified looks on their face and some even looked on the verge of tears. After a few minutes, The Great Hall regained of its habitual loudness, and conversations resonated conversations once again.

Finally, Lily and Mary finished eating, and made their way to the second floor corridor, where they would have their first lesson of the Day: Charms.

Lily was eager to start class again, she was hoping that the homework would make her forget about the terrible news she had learnt the same morning.

Professor Flitwick opened the classroom door, and gestured his students inside. As usual, Lily picked a desk on the second row, not to close to the front nor to the back. Her seat enabled her to talk without the teacher immediately noticing, but also to listen to the lesson without having to crane her neck to see the blackboard.

" Who here is able to show me the _mobiliarbus_ charm? Anybody? Why yes, miss Evans."

Her hand had shot in the air as soon as professor Flitwick had questioned the clas, which earned her a few mocking imitations on behalf of some Slytherin boys which Lily determinedly ignored.

Aiming to the small tree Professor Flitwick had just conjured she cast the spell confidently, willing the tree to move to the right.

But something was wrong. She hadn't even felt the warm tingling feeling that rushed through her every time she used her wand. Worse, nothing happened, the tree didn't budge.

She felt herself go red with embarrassment as the whole class stared at her dumbstruck, and suddenly, Lily felt this ridiculously strong and childish urge to cry. She held back tears and somehow managed to disguise one of her sobs into an apologetic laugh.

_Get a grip of yourself, Lily!_

Professor Flitwick seemed to shocked to speak. In the classroom, there reigned a heavy silence occasionally broken by a few mocking snickers until the Professor regained his senses and said in what he tried to be an amused voice:

" Well there's always a first for everything." Before picking another student to demonstrate the spell, who managed it and earned 5 points for his House.

Professor Flitwick then started a lesson on the Engorgement Charm.

But Lily wasn't listening.

It wasn't possible, she had managed the spell hundreds of times last year, so why couldn't she do it now?


End file.
